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It contains toxic elements like arsenic, lead, and mercury,
废料里含有砷、铅和汞等有毒元素，
which were previously trapped inside the rock.
这些元素之前都被禁锢在了矿石里。
And usually, when mining companies produce toxic waste, they store it in giant pits, like these.
采矿公司生产完有毒废料后通常会将其储存在这样的大坑里。
But those pits don't always hold up.
问题是，这些大坑并不是每次都能装下所有的废料。
"It may be the worst environmental disaster in British Columbia's history."
“这可能是不列颠哥伦比亚省史上最严重的一次环境灾难。”
"3 million gallon toxic stew of heavy metals poured downstream."
“300万加仑有毒的重金属混合物倾泻而下。”
"Devastation as far as the eye can see."
“放眼望去，满目疮痍。”
"And the question that everyone here is just stunned by is how this could ever have been allowed to happen."
“所有人都为之震惊的问题是，为什么会允许这样的事情发生？”
And even when there isn't one of these huge, catastrophic spills,
即便没有发生这样巨大的灾难性溢流问题，
abandoned mines leak millions of gallons of waste into streams.
被遗弃的矿厂也会泄露数以百万加仑的废料到附近的溪流里。
These colors indicate heavy metal contamination that poisons aquatic life and taints drinking water.
这些颜色就表示这里已经受到了足以致死水生生命并污染饮用水的重金属污染。
"A lot of the economy that this region was based on was getting gold and silver out of these hills
“该地区的经济严重依赖于从这些山里开采金矿和银矿带来的收入，
and it left of a legacy of pollution."
最终也留下了污染的后遗症。”
The cleanup costs taxpayers millions of dollars long after mining companies take their profits and leave.
清理工作需要花费纳税人数百万美元的税收，彼时，那些采矿公司却早就带着他们的利润走了。
Twin Metals plans to store the waste from its mine right here:
双生金属公司计划将其矿厂产生的废料存在这儿，
next to a river that ultimately leads to the Boundary Waters.
但这旁边就有一条最终会汇入界河的小河。
And instead of storing wastewater in a pit,
他们并不打算将废水存在一个大坑里，
their plan is to dry out the waste and store it in stacks like these.
而是打算将它们蒸发之后把它们堆成这样的堆。
On its website, Twin Metals calls the dry stack method “environmentally friendly,”
该公司在他们的网站上说，这种干燥的废料堆是“环保”的，
but to support that, they point to another dry stack mine in Alaska, where the verdict isn't actually that clear.
为了支持这一说法，他们还援引了阿拉斯加的一个干废料堆，但有关后者的结论并不十分明确。
The Alaska mining company's own data show that lead contaminated dust is blowing off the dry stacks,
阿拉斯加的那个采矿公司自己的数据都显示，被铅污染的灰尘正从那些废料堆飘出来，
and they've acknowledged that it could be getting into the water.
他们已经承认，那些灰尘可能会飘到河里。
And in aquatic life near the mine, scientists found elevated levels of arsenic, lead, and mercury.
另一方面，科学家们已经发现阿拉斯加矿厂附近河里的水生生物砷、铅和汞等元素含量有所升高。
Just like the Alaska mine, the Twin Metals mine would be surrounded by interconnected waterways.
和阿拉斯加的矿厂一样，双生金属的矿厂周围也会有很多彼此互通的水道。
Any pollution would spread far beyond the initial impact site.
任何污染都会扩散到远超出其初始影响范围的地方。
All this is why, in 2016, the Obama administration decided the risks of copper mining here would be “unacceptable,”
而这一切正好是2016年奥巴马政府决定“不允许”在此地开采铜矿，
and said that Twin Metals couldn't do it.
并明确指出双生金属不能这么做的原因。
But two years later, the Trump administration reversed that decision.
然而，两年之后，特朗普政府便推翻了这一决定。
"Tonight I'm proudly announcing that we will soon be taking the first steps
“今晚，我自豪地宣布，不久我们就将迈出
to rescind the federal withdrawal in Superior National Forest
解除联邦对苏必利尔湖国家森林的采矿限制，
and restore mineral exploration for our amazing people and miners and workers."
为我们了不起的人民、矿工和工人重新开放开矿工作的第一步。”
In the 1980s, the iron mines of northeastern Minnesota started to close.
20世纪80年代，明尼苏达州东北部的铁矿开始陆续关闭。
"These days unemployment there has gone as high as 90%."
“现在，那里的失业率已经高达90%。”
"Of the 15,000 union men and women who work the Iron Range mines,
“在铁矿地带的矿厂上班的1.5万名横框两性的工会成员中，
more than 3,000 are laid off and hundreds more jobs are in jeopardy."
目前已有3000多人下岗，还有数百个岗位岌岌可危。”
"A full-scale depression forcing thousands of miners to abandon the area."
"一场全面的萧条迫使成千上万的矿工离开了这里。”
"When the layoffs happened in the mine, we were all hit.
“矿上开始裁员以后，我们所有人都受到了影响。
Everyone was hit, day care was hit, the hairdresser was hit, the grocery store was hit, not just the people that were laid off."
不止被裁的那些人，托儿所，理发店，超市，所有人都受到了影响。
That's because mining jobs tend to not stick around.
因为采矿这个工作一般都不长久。
"I actually worked in several different states in the mining industry.
“我其实在好几个州的矿上工作过。
And one of the things I noticed, when I go back to the places where I worked 20 years ago,
而我注意到的现象之一就是，当我回到20年前我上班的那些地方时，
none of those communities are thriving.
就发现没有一个地方的日子好过的。
You don't build long-term prosperity on a mining industry."
采矿业是带不来长期的繁荣的。”
Industry and conservation have always fought over the best use of our public lands,
行业和环保组织在如何充分利用我们的公共土地资源问题上一直是争论不休，
and the people closest to those lands often have differing visions for their own future.
距离这些土地最近的民众对自己的未来也有各自的看法。
"This proposed mine really puts the sustainable wilderness-edge economy, that we have going right now, at risk.
“这个拟建的矿厂严重危及到了当下的这种可持续荒野边缘经济。
And it definitely puts businesses like mine at risk."
也严重危及到了许多企业，比如我自己的企业。”
"Jobs are scarce up here. Good jobs, I should say.
“我们这儿的工作机会很少，我是说好的工作机会很少。
Ones with benefits, where you can raise a family, put money aside for your retirement.
就是那种有各种福利，能供你养家，供你存钱养老的工作。
So this is a very good hope for us. For our towns, our families, our kids."
所以，（双生金属）这个矿厂对我们，对我们镇，对我们的家庭和孩子来说都是美好的希望。”
In a speech in 1908, Teddy Roosevelt took stock of America's industrial progress.
在1908年的一次演讲中，泰迪·罗斯福总结了美国工业取得的成绩。
"We have become great in a material sense because of the lavish use of our resources," he said.
“从物质层面来看，从我们对资源的挥霍来看，我们已经很强大了，”他说。
"But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone,
“但现在也是时候好好扪心自问一下，我们的森林没了以后，
when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted."
煤、铁、石油和天然气都自然资源都用完了以后该怎么办。”
More than a hundred years later, many of the most impressive human inventions,
如今，一个多世纪过去了，人类最令人难忘的发明，
including those that could ultimately eliminate the need for fossil fuels,
包括那些能够彻底终结我们对化石燃料的依赖的发明，
still depend on resources like copper, resources that will run out someday.
依然离不开铜这样终将用无可用的资源。
The question isn't really whether to let companies mine for copper near the Boundary Waters.
因此，真正的问题不在于要不要允许企业在界河附近开采铜矿。
It's whether the short-term gains are worth changing places like this forever.
而在于那样的短期利益是否值得我们彻底而永久地改变这类地方的面貌。
